Solace
by crimsoneternal
Summary: For him, revenge was a necessity. For her, solace was the only thing that saved her from her own madness.


**AN: Hey guy's so here is another Loki'OC character one-shot. I hope you enjoy it!**

**This one actually took me quite a while to write as I was unsure of this one, so all the feedback and reviews for this fic will be hugely appreciated!**

**For the record, Adelaide is an Australian name. I fell in love with it and thought that it would suit for an Asguardian name.**

**Enjoy!**

The crystal blue sky of Asguard shone like a diamond over the great golden city. She stood in silence staring out over the vast realm, drinking in its beauty, watching as the setting sun danced upon the infamous rainbow bridge casting beautiful sporadic colours and patterns over the paling sky. Painting the sky the colours of burnt oranges and reds.

She was alone. As always, but she would have it no other way. Seeking out the solace of the tranquillity of the palace was a need that she most desired, most craved. A necessity that could not go ignored.

A gentle breeze caressed her face. Its fingers smoothing her alabaster skin in a comforting gesture, brushing her silken raven hair over her bare shoulders, rippling her dress as she stood like a goddess in the failing sunlight.

Solace.

Solace was what fuelled her soul. Made her strong, gave her hope.

Solace gave her the gift of thought, the gift of insight and knowledge. Solace gave her everything that reality could not.

And now, standing upon the desolate balcony of Asguard's grand library did Adelaide of Asguard, Brown eyed and emotionless, look down at the tranquil mossy green sea that sparkled like Emeralds as the rays of the fading sun reached down to bid its friend farewell once more.

Emerald. That colour alone drew the Asguardian woman from out of her quite solace and drew her mind to the matter as to why she was standing in the abandoned library now. She had received a letter, written in fine hand, tall and slanting, regal. She had not expected the contents of what it revealed to her.

The crisp white parchment had said:

_The library. _

And that was all.

No time, no name, just two words sharp and demanding that sealed her fate. And so since sun rise she had locked herself away from humanity and drowned herself in her solace. It was all she had left since his fall. All she required in his absence.

That fateful night returned to her in a form of an unwanted memory. The sight of him clinging to his brother's war hammer for his life, wide eyed and afraid pierced her heart more than the Asguardian arrow had when she had tried to save him.

He was one never to be afraid. He was strong in many ways that his brother was not. His heritage may not have been true born but his birth right to the throne was as equal as the golden haired one. All he needed was reassurance, guidance and perhaps in time love.

Love.

What was love?

Was love confused with loyalty?

Was friendship confused with love?

A bond? Was that love?

Unanswered questions flittered around Adelaide of Asguard's head as she stood motionless, staring into the Emerald sea for the answer. Somehow she convinced herself that if she threw herself into the magical depths that she would find all that she sought to know.

Perhaps there was a world beneath the green waters.

She did not know.

The thought of death never really ignited fear in the shield maiden's heart before his fall. She was strong and had stared death many times in the face, laughed at it, taunted it. _You will never rob me of my life_ she would say. Yet now in her solitary loneliness did Adelaide feel the creeping fingers of death crawling up her spine, beckoning her to fall over the edge.

It would be quick. No one would know, no one would care. She was an outcast in the realm of the golden city, seen as the loyal one to the wicked one who sought to watch Asguard burn. She had aided him in his plan to wreak war upon his traitorous father. Yearned to see the god of thunder destroyed for his ignorance and cruel ways of his lesser known brother.

And so she had paid the price for her crimes. A year in the dungeons of the golden palace, brutally attacked and savagely beaten. Stripped of her honour as a shield maiden and left to wander Asguard with the guilt and shame of aiding such a cruel, malicious beast. Suffered the curses that were bestowed upon her, welcomed the spittle that was spat at her whenever she passed by in the golden hall.

Her punishment was to wander Asguard alone and humiliated, Friendless. Her only comfort was her books that whispered sweet caresses to her that sounded so familiar like a voice she once knew.

Adelaide had gone from respected to nothing. From feared to hated.

One thing that Odin could not strip from her was her solace. That was always something that she would keep. It was her solace alone that had brought her to the library now. Waiting. What she was waiting for she could not say.

She had almost given up her pursuit of the unknown letter, her back towards the grand oaken doors of the library still staring out over the golden city when a creaking of the doors signalled that her solace was hers no longer.

An uneasy feeling suddenly consumed the shield maiden then as she prepared herself for the torrents of abuse that was about to be hurled her way. The library was abandoned now, no one used it. Its only occupant was now lost, dead and so Adelaide found it strange that a note from an unknown source would suggest the ancient library as a meeting place.

She was no fool though. Her senses were sharp from being that of a warrior. Hidden inside her steel boned corset, a dagger was hidden. An emerald hilted blade with ruby's that adorned its sister gem. If the letter had been a ruse to lure her into a trap, the shield maiden possessed a weapon that would destroy them who tried to assonate her. Her blade had been a gift from he who had fallen. He was now lost to her. He who was no more.

Loki.

The emerald prince of Asguard.

Adelaide kept her eyes trained upon the fading sky when suddenly she turned to face the intruder who came to destroy her peace. As she turned, the ancient room darkened and the city of Asguard became cloaked under a soft black velvet blanket.

Darkness.

The room was a complete darkened void.

Adelaide stared into that darkness, her blue eyes scanning the room around her without haste and without fear. The shield maiden did not feel fear. He had taught her that. He had taught her how to be strong.

Pages of dusty open books that lay strewn over unused tables stirred lightly from the breeze of when the door opened. The soft rustle of ancient parchment soothed her ears. She squinted down through the darkness to watch the gentle flutter of pages fall to the floor.

Footsteps.

Strangely light. Unhurried.

Adelaide walked into the spacious room fully intent on uncovering her intruder.

For a long time she merely walked. Stopping every now and then to listen to the footfalls of the unknown. Every time she would cease to walk the footsteps would not. It was obvious to her then that this intruder did not want to go unnoticed. A dark smirk stretched upon her pale face then. She liked games. It was like a hunt, except she was not the one who was being hunted. She was the hunter!

The footsteps continued to echo around the room. They seemed to move behind the great tall, dusty bookshelves. Like a predator she followed. Her hand sliding to the breast plate of her corset before drawing her dagger free.

She would kill whoever dared to disrespect her solitude. Adelaide no longer cared for formalities and respect of the people of Asguard. She despised them now. There was no reason for her to feel any loyalty towards them. She only remained in the golden city because of the beautiful tranquillity it provided. As well as memories that she longed to forget.

In a voice like velvet, she spoke to the suffocating darkness: "I know you are there," fully expecting nothing to happen. Her assumption was right. Instead the footsteps continued around her.

"I heard you enter. Have you come to put an end to my misery? If so enough with these games! You and I both know that one of us won't be leaving this room alive, so why wait?"

Silence.

The footsteps stopped.

Staring into the darkness she waited for the revealing of the intruder. Tension was rife. In her slender hands, Adelaide caressed the hilt of her dagger ready for the attack. She would not die this day. Not while she still had to avenge his death.

A sombre wind caught beneath the white mesh curtains of the open balcony's windows and blew them inwards so that they looked like a pale ghost gliding into the room. Behind those curtains a moon had begun to rise in the sky, pale and big. Silver.

The figure revealed itself to the darkness. A tall, slender shadow of man that was no doubt sent to destroy her. Upon seeing it, the dagger had left her hand the instant that the shape stepped out of the darkness. Silently she waited for the scream of pain that the intruder would release but nothing came.

With reflexes as sharp as her own, Adelaide watched as her dagger was caught in the hand of the shadowed man with so much ease that it unnerved her.

Staring at the figure she watched as her blade was tossed aside and clattered to the dusty floor around them. Her eyes narrowed. "Who are you? Why do you wait? I am weaponless, the biggest advantage that you could need! Come on, let's end this!"

Her voice was strong, firm but the figure did not move. Instead, in low dark tone it answered her for the first time. "I do not wish to fight."

Adelaide glared, confused by the voice.

"Then what is your purpose? Surly you did not leave that note outside of my chamber doors so that we could have a little chat!" her words were laced with venom.

Again it said nothing. She grew angered.

"Come!" she taunted stepping nearer to the figure, "Let's finish this. You are here because you think that you can kill me! She who aided the Emerald one. Loki of Asguard. Your disgust for me radiates from you like rays from the sun on a hot summers day. Come, I won't stop you, I will let you do it," but then quick as a cat she pulled another dagger free from her breast plate and pointed it at her heart, "Or would you rather I did it for you?"

A dark laugh escaped her lips then as the figure made no attempt to move. "Coward!" she hissed before preparing to drive the blade through steel and flesh.

Suddenly a burst of green light shot out from the mysterious figures hand and in one fluid motion the blade at her breast was gone. Adelaide stared speechless, unable to move, unable to think. There was only one whose magic had been as strong as the unknown figures and he was lost forever.

"That's a pretty trick." Her voice had not been as firm as she had intended it to be. Instead it came out low and unnatural.

"It is no trick," the voice reassured, smooth as silk. She said nothing.

"Who are you?" she whispered again, curiosity burning strong now within her heart. "There was only one whose magic was as great as yours and he no longer walks the halls of Asguard. So I again ask, who are you?"

There was a long pause before the figure spoke again.

"It seems that you are the only one who has not forgotten the Emerald princes reign of destruction Asguardian." It answered darkly. Adelaide stiffened.

"Speak plainly." She demanded harshly, "I have no patience for riddles."

"It is no riddle shield maiden." It replied strangely calmly.

The silver moon beat down upon the figure as it revealed itself to Adelaide of Asguard. She watched on in silence, her heart suddenly racing inside of her chest. Was it fear? Or was it excitement? But what was revealed to her compared nothing to what emotions gripped furiously at her heart.

Silence.

Her eyes wide as she looked at the man before her. Before she knew what she was saying, a hoarse whisper rasped from her throat:

"Loki?"

Stepping forward out of the shadows did the god of mischief appear? Tall and slender, his hair as raven as she remembered. It had grown longer now, reaching his collar that framed his face beautifully.

And then there was his eyes. Beautiful Emerald green that burned like ice fire out of the darkness.

None moved. He said nothing. Silence prevailed.

Then after the silence passed, Adelaide forced the words from her mouth.

"Y..you fell," her mask of strength that she had once wore slipped from off her face like a silken veil, revealing all the emotions that she had harboured for over a year.

Loki appeared from out of the shadows, his footfalls slow and steady. Pale hands clasped behind his back. "So I did." Came his cold reply.

Before she knew what she was doing, Adelaide had ran across the room and struck the God of Mischief in the face.

"Bastard!" she hissed, all the hate and anger that she had built up over the years of being alone flooded out of her in that one moment. Slowly Loki turned his head back to look at her. An intimidating grin etched upon his alabaster face. But then as quickly as it came it was gone.

"It would be wise if you did not attempt to do such a thing again."

Breathing hard, for the first time she saw the one she had so loved for the first time.

"How?"

A cold look crossed the young gods face. "How what?" he spat. The shield maiden grew angered at his indifference.

"How are you alive? It is impossible, I saw you fall."

"You saw what your eyes told you to see." He answered calmly.

"And what did I see?" she challenged. At her counter Loki was silenced. For a long moment he looked down at the shield maiden, his green eyes wandering over her form. Then quickly he jerked his head away from her.

"You saw a boy fall to his death." He whispered coldly, "But I have returned to Asguard a man!"

Adelaide stared up at him. Something in the way he spoke the last sentence unnerved her. "Returned for what?" she questioned him. Loki turned his face back to hers and when he looked at her Adelaide Saw the darkness that resided in his eyes then.

"You wrote that note?" she whispered as he began pacing away from her; her eyes following him.

"You've always been the perceptive one Adelaide." He told her.

"How long have you been alive?"

"Long enough."

Adelaide's eyes narrowed at the god of mischiefs indifference to her questions. "Why now? Why now after all this time have you returned to Asguard?" She asked strangely emotionless. At her words Loki stopped his pacing and with a quick flick of his wrist the room that they resided became illuminated.

Candles appeared all over the tables of the ancient library. Dotted upon the great dusty tables close to the books. Adelaide watched as the room went from a black void to a great illumination. And the cause of that illumination was the god of mischief himself.

"I knew you would waste no time in questioning my motives my lady." His silver tongue purred. Adelaide bristled. It had been so long since she had heard him say those words to her. Once he had said them with so much affection but now as he spoke them they sounded almost patronising.

"I am no longer your lady." she whispered harshly. She watched as the young gods face remained trained on her. His expression impossible to read. He was so different.

"Is that so." He answered coldly.

"You left me here to die. You left me here whilst you fell to your death from the Bifrost leaving me to suffer the punishments that would follow in your wake." Her words were laced with unintended venom. A dark look crossed Loki of Asguards face.

"I did not ask for your assistance!" he hissed.

"True, but then you never had to. I was loyal to you Emerald prince. The only one here in this godforsaken city that can say that!"

Loki released a harsh growl. Adelaide from her narrowed eyes drunk in everything about the handsome prince. He still wore the colours that he was accustomed to. Emerald greens and gold's and black leather. His leather boots reaching his calves.

"You insufferable creature!" he hissed. The shield maiden released a harsh laugh of her own then.

"Come now Loki, spare me the compliments! Enough of this play. What is your reason for summoning me here?"

"You dare speak to me like a common peasant?" he snapped.

"I do." She answered calmly. Adelaide of Asguard did not fear the god of mischief. She watched as the god became furious.

"I should kill you right now for your insolence!" he growled venomously.

"Then do it." She answered. "Death would be better than spending another day in this god forsaken palace, hounded by Odin's guards, spared the humiliation of the beatings and the sputum that is hurled my way every time that I appear."

At that Loki frowned. Adelaide raised her chin stubbornly then. "Ah, you don't know do you. Yes I paid the price for aiding you my dear Prince. My punishment for aiding your mad scheme was a year in the palace dungeons beaten and abused whilst the Allfather watched on, stripped of my title as Shield Maiden of Asguard, humiliated in front of the court and confined to a life of permanent humiliation."

A disgusted look crossed the god of lies face then. "They hurt you?" for a moment Adelaide was taken aback by the sudden concern in the tall man's tone.

"On the contrary I felt nothing." She answered bitterly, the memories of her endured sentence returning to her in a wave of a fist.

"I will make sure that pay for their crimes." Loki assured her coldly. Hesitantly stepping nearer to where she stood.

"Why?" she questioned matter of factly. "What's done is done, I do not wish to spend the rest of my days planning revenge against a race that is not worth my time and energy."

The green eyes of the Emerald Prince glowed bright then at her words. "You will let them live? After what they have done to you?"

Once upon a time Adelaide would have chosen the path of revenge like the young prince before her and plotted the deaths of all those who dared treat her as if she was nothing. All the hatred that she had felt, the anger and pain, her suffering she would have used as her fuel for the fire that burned furiously inside of her.

Once.

"Yes." Then after a long pause she spoke again. "Now enough of me Loki Laufeyson. You have summoned me here for a reason and I grow tired of you avoiding my questions. You have one chance to tell me of what you require of me or I will leave now forever and you will truly be dead to me."

Loki narrowed his eyes defiantly. "An ultimatum?" he asked darkly.

"A chance." Came her stern reply. Adelaide saw how something changed in the young prince's expression then.

A silent standoff fought its way between them. Then for the first time Loki of Asguard revealed his intentions to the shield maiden. "I wanted to see you." His voice was low, quite. She listened intently and watched as the Asguardian prince dropped his eyes away from her face. He still could not face emotion she noted.

"And so you waited a year to appear to me now?" Her voice was unsympathetic.

"I did not intend it to be this long. I had plans, idea's, things that I had to do before I could return to you!" He snapped.

"Gathering an army you mean." Slowly the raven haired prince nodded in answer. Adelaide's mouth became a thin line of anger that she would not show. She was both hurt and happy that her god had returned. But his motive was still unclear. "So what is your reason for calling upon me now? Surly you do not intend on reminiscing of old times."

For the first time since his unveiling of his true form, Loki of Asguard stepped forward and slowly, hesitantly reached for the young Shield Maidens hand. Staring into her eyes he said: "Join me."

"Join you?" her voice was sharp, incredulous.

"Help me destroy Asguard so that we both can secure our seats to watch it burn!"

Adelaide stared at the young prince, her stern exterior slowly softening with him. "I thought you dead." She whispered tenderly, sincerely.

"I should be, but my fall lead me to a realm that I do not know the name of. A realm that consisted of contorted figures that no Asguardian eye has ever witnessed in all the nine realms. It was these creatures that I persuaded to give me an army. I told them of my plan to destroy Asguard and the all father with it." A dark smirk appeared on his face again, "They approved."

"So you intend to slay Odin?" Loki tensed.

"I do."

It was her time to smile then. A menacing smile that matched his own. Adelaide desired nothing more than to wreak revenge on the one who had made her suffer so. She swore that one day she would serve justice.

"But I have only one condition my Lady." His silver tongue purred suddenly drawing close to the shield maiden, their faces nearly touching.

"And what's that my prince?" she breathed, feeling his free hand falling to her waste. She could feel his cold touch through her dress.

"Be my Shield Maiden once more?"

At that Adelaide smiled darkly, her hand rising to the god of lies face, caressing his porcelain skin. "I will protect you, fight for you and spill all the necessary blood for you my king."

Her words were sealed by a poisonous kiss that would make Asguard burn.


End file.
